Created by Soul: I'm Back....

I’ve been gone so long that I didn’t know if I still could log on to my blog! I don’t think anybody really noticed, but it kept nagging at me. Obviously I didn’t take the nagging too seriously, but to be fair to me, I had a lot going on. I guess I just got overwhelmed with life and checked out of my creative side. I only baked when there was a request and I didn’t make any jewelry. So, what was going on that put me in a creative depression….well, for starters I put a lot of time and energy into Vivian’s Quinceanera that when it was over I just needed a break. All my spare time was dedicated to that one event. I don’t regret one minute of it, of course! Also, during this time we found out mom had a tumor on her lung which turned out to be cancerous. Luckily for my mom (and us!) it was diagnosed early (I am told that is rare with lung cancer as usually when diagnosed it’s too late) and on May 30^th had the tumor removed. She’s recovering slowly and the prognosis so far is good. Anyway, there was a lot going on in my brain so blogging and creating was the last thing I wanted to do. I would think about it….sometimes even plan to make something…but then just ended up wanting to take a nap! Slowly I'm getting back into the groove of things, and decided to bake some cookies and took a photo here it is…

Cookies are a known cure for what ails you! OK, maybe not but they are sure good for the soul!

These aren’t your ordinary Chocolate Chip cookies. These cookies have nutella in the middle. I know right!!! Nutella stuffed chocolate chip cookies! Shut it down!!! OK, so I probably should have cut the cookie open and taken a photo of the nutella kind of oozing out, but honestly I was not planning on blogging about it. I decided today, as I was thinking of getting back to my blogging and making activities to just start. OK, so back to the recipe…I wish I could take the credit for the creation of this magnificent cookie but alas…it is no my brain child. I’ve seen this cookie recipe floating around on the internet and found a recipe I could work with (most wanted me to form the nutella into “small balls” and freeze them for hours and I just didn’t want to have to do that step). I did some minor changes based on the fact that I didn’t have vanilla beans nor the different kinds of chocolate chips the recipe called for. Here is the recipe…

Nutella Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

adapted from Cooking Classy

What you need:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1 cup butter

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste (or 2 tsp vanilla extract)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

2/3 cups or so of Nutella, chilled

coarse sea salt (for tops of cookies)

Directions:

Place the butter in a medium saucepan and brown it over a low-medium heat. Keep an eye on the butter as you don't want it to burn. I swirl it around with a wooden spoon and get it to a golden brown color. Once completed put the bowl of electric stand mixer. Let it rest for about 25 minutes until it has cooled down.

Next add the flour, baking soda and 1/4 kosher salt in a bowl and whisk together.

Add the brown sugar to the cooled butter. With the paddle attachment fit on mixer, mix for 1 minute. Then add in the vanilla bean past, vanilla extract as well as the eggs (add one at a time and combine well after each egg added).

Now, set mixer on low speed and add in the dry ingredients slowly to the mix until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Take the bowl out of the electric mixer and cover the dough (or you can transfer to another container...I just didn't want to have to clean another bowl!) and put in refrigerate for about 1 to 2 hours.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Like cookie sheet with Silpat liner or parchment paper. Take the dough out of the refrigerator. Scoop dough out using cookie dough about 2 tbsp at a time and shape into balls onto a large sheet. Flatten dough balls and place about 1 tsp of the chilled Nutella in the center of each. Fold dough up and around the Nutella covering it entirely. (If some Nutella seeps out cover it with a chocolate chip.) Sprinkle each with sea salt.

Bake in over for 10-12 minutes (mine took 11 minutes). Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 3 minutes on cookie sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Remove 2 cookies from wire rack, get a glass of cold milk and proceed to eat! Repeat this step several times if necessary.

By for now!